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The early success of Woofs and Whinnies has come about thanks to good research and careful planning and preparation.
And I am delighted to say that a Government department has chosen to use us as a blueprint for others setting up in business. But more of that later.
The company was born in September 1999 — a village business serving the needs of dog and horse owners. Based in a rural, animal-loving community, the aim was to offer services not available locally.
Although there were many dogs in the area, there was no grooming salon. There were also 12 livery yards/stables, but horse owners had to travel some distance to buy equestrian supplies.
I knew that these were two distinct markets, but they overlapped considerably — many "country folk" owned both dogs and horses!
I consulted the Business Initiative organisation about my idea and wrote a business plan — this went on to win first prize in a Business initiative business planning competition.
I then completed my dog grooming training (qualifying with distinction), funded by a small firms training loan. The Department for Employment and Education recently chose Woofs & Whinnies as a case study to demonstrate the success of this training loan.
After all this preparation and training, it was time to get down to business! I leased an empty village shop, which opened as Woofs & Whinnies in March 2000. We offer a wide range of services, which you can read about by clicking here.
We have gone from strength to strength since our opening. We now have a vast number of doggy customers on our books. We attract new customers at an average rate of one each day, coming from Audley and many surrounding towns and villages. Our horse care services have also enjoyed considerable growth as our business becomes known throughout the area.
Our ordering service enables customers to purchase almost any equestrian product if we don't hold it in stock. This allows us to supply large livery yards and local racehorse training stables in Staffordshire and Cheshire
This rapid growth has come about partly as a result of our strong marketing strategy, which has included advertising, newspaper features, an exhibition stand, leaflet drops and lots of other methods. But we like to think our customers value the quality of our service. We work to NVQ standards and all staff follow clearly documented procedures. All procedures are displayed and our grooming salon is open to the public for inspection.
We have great plans for the future, which could bring new jobs to the area. But for the time being, thank you to all our customers for their support, and thanks to you for visiting this site. I hope to see you at Woofs and Whinnies soon!
Adele Tabbiner